City of Regina undecided on whether to maintain COVID-19 restrictions once province rolls back mandates

The City of Regina is looking at its options forCOVID-19 restrictions in a world where the province may not have any.

Wednesday night's city council meeting included a discussion around what life could be like in the city as the province looks to wind down mandatesput in place to reduce the spread of the virus.

City manager Chris Holden said the city would retain control of measures in place in its facilities and for serviceslike transportation.

Discussions on what the city will do are set to take place in the coming weeks, Regina's Mayor Sandra Masters said.

"If restrictions are lifted everywhere else, what's the effectiveness of them just holding on in our facilities, or our buildings, or our buses for example?" Masters said on CBC's the Morning Edition on Thursday.

In the past, the city hasused different restrictions than other parts of the province. Masters said that could continue.

Holden told council the city would act under the advice of the chief medical health officer and medical professionals like the deputy medical health officer for Regina.

Holden said metrics the city uses to gauge the COVID-19 situation seemto give reason for cautiousoptimism.

Hospitalizations within the city were down, he said, and even though testing data available at the time wasn't completely accurate due to the province only counting COVID-19 positivePCR tests, he saidcase numbers appeared to decrease over the eight days before Wednesday's meeting.

The city manager noted that given discussions taking place within the city, the province, the country and even the world, it would be "tough to maintain" proof of vaccination or negative test requirements without a provincial health order to back-up any requirements.

Holden said 80 per cent of the eligible population in Regina had at least two doses of vaccine, while 86 per cent had at least one dose of the vaccine, though only 43 per cent of residents had a booster dose.

Masters lauded Regina residents for their efforts in getting vaccinated on Thursday.

"If people continue to get their boosters then we can move forward in a much safer fashion," she said.